PRO/CON VIEW: Should the place where a sex offender works be listed on a state web site?

By Enterprise editorial staff

Published 1:00 am, Monday, April 1, 2013

OUR VIEW: Remove job info

It's a rare day in the Legislature when sex offenders get less scrutiny instead of more, but it happened in Austin last week. The Republican-dominated Senate approved a bill that would remove a sex offender's employment information from the state's official online registry. A conservative think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, also supports this move because the practice interferes with the private relationship of an employer and employee.

Sex offenders have to work somewhere. If their job does not increase public danger in any way, their place of employment doesn't need to be on the state website.

Changes like this should not be confused with a growing move to wall off data about certain criminal convictions. That type of information must always remain accessible to the public even if a minor shift like this is justified.

Otherwise, if a former offender is slinging hash or selling lawnmowers, let him be.

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ANOTHER VIEW: Keep it posted

Sex offenders are some of the most dangerous criminals that law-abiding people have to deal with. The unpleasant truth is that many of them re-offend after a conviction or have committed offenses that never got prosecuted.

That's why Texans need to know if a sex offender is working near them. They might reasonably want to avoid that business - especially if they have children or live in a place without many commercial options.

It's not as if this information is broadcast anyway. Texans have to go to the state website (txdps.state.tx.us) and seek it out.

As far as known, no one has mounted a public campaign against any business employing a registered sex offender. This undercuts the fear that sex offenders will be unfairly hounded from their jobs.

If the current practice inconveniences a sex offender, so what? His interests are far less important here than those of his past victims and any potential new ones.

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FEEDBACK: What do you think? Should the place where a sex offender works be listed on a state web site? Post your comment below now!